Fathom
Platform: TI-99/4A
Region: USA
Media: Cartridge
Controller: Joystick
Genre: Action
Gametype: Licensed
Release Year: 1983
Developer: Imagic
Publisher: Texas Instruments
Players: 1
Programmer: Neil McKinzie
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Neptina, Neptune's daughter, has been imprisoned at the bottom of the sea by Titans. Your goal is to rescue her by locating the scattered pieces of a magical trident! You will need to take the form of a dolphin and a bird in order to locate the pieces that are hidden in the ocean and clouds. When flying in the air, there are several screens that have clouds flying by. Touch all of the clouds, and the trident piece appears! Other birds which are flying around will cause you to lose energy if you touch them accidentally. Underwater, trident pieces can be found by touching the sea horses. Octopuses, sharks, and a deadly maze of seaweed will get in your way and cause you to lose energy if caught! When you have located all of the trident pieces, the cage holding Neptina can be unlocked, but if you run out of energy first the game will be over.

Trivia:

Imagic had a contest that if you could tell them how many tridents were hidden on the picture on the back of their box and in the poster advertising the game and contest and your entry was drawn, you could win $1000. Here is the poster. Whether anyone won the money is, as of 2012, unknown.

There are actually 9 levels of play in the TI-99/4A version of Fathom, compared to 7 levels on the Atari 2600. After getting through all 9 levels you are presented with a special message from the programmer.

The manual for the TI-99/4A version of Fathom actually has the picture flipped around. On all other versions of the game the mermaid's tail points to the right (such as on the Atari 2600 Box). It is also interesting to note that the TI-99/4A manual for Star Trek had it's picture flipped around as well. The reason why TI flipped some of the pictures around on their manuals is not known.


http://www.mobygames.com/game/ti-994a/fathom
